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Rai
Rai was a Bear Druid/Adept from Water Street’s current Pathfinder campaign In the Shadow of Zon-Kuthon. An ally to all who revered nature over society, he fought for the protection of his way of life along with his friends. Rai lost his life and returned to the Earth protecting his party from a Stone Golem deep in the ruins outside of East Haven. __TOC__ Before the Adventure Rai, at a young age, was once apprenticed to the local cleric, given a predisposition to the mystical gifts of nature. Being an Adept, he found little enjoyment for book study and holy words, and longed to be outside within the wilds instead. At sixteen, he left the church in mild disgrace, but having taken no offensive action other than fleeing, was not barred passage back into New Haven. Within the woods, Rai learned how to get in touch with nature itself, learning his own spells and finding abilities within himself after a chance encounter with a grizzly bear. Emulating the traits of these graceful giants, he gained various abilities from faster movement to increased armor to fighting with claws and teeth as sharp as the real thing before eventually learning how to take the form of a bear himself. Befriending fellow ranger Loam as an outsider, they lived within the neighboring forest, surviving off the land and bringing pelts and meat to town when available. The rest of the time, they kept mostly to themselves out in the wilderness. Upon hearing of Baron Merdon Srek’s attempt to lay pressure upon his hometown in increased taxes and policing, he helped form a rebel party against the Baron alongside Loam, Cale, Strax, and Rogue. The Party Sets Forth From New Haven, the party made for Lumberham, meeting an old man along the way. His cart was attacked outside of the Dark Forest by a pack of Worgs, which Rai and company managed to fight off. The old man regretfully returned to nature’s fold, and the party carried on, making use of the supply cart and even caring for the injured Worg pup Loam acquired. Reaching Lumberham, the town was in distress over the disappearance of many of the town’s children. After Cale woefully undersold their cart of supplies, they proceeded to search the town for signs of the kidnappers. Daelen Kraksis, a local brewer and cleric, agreed to join them in their search, leading them from the edge of town to the bloody tavern to a secret passage underground where a portal to Zon-Kuthon’s realm was harvesting the missing children. Defeating their first cultists, they return the missing children, almost get Daelen eaten by a mimic, and gain further assistance in their new party member and one of the Fifth of the King. The Sandstorm Cometh The next stop on the way to the capitol was Cliffhome, an unfriendly town split amongst five different influences. The Fifth claimed influence with a guild to get the party supplies for the trip, strong-arming the party into supplying for his troop as well. After a very tense standoff, including the possibility of the destruction of Cliffhome’s wheat fields, they agree to leave in only a day’s rest to avoid further dealings with the guilds. On the trek from Cliffhome to Aelmont, the journey became bogged down with impeding sand, gaining in strength for three days. Upon the fourth day, they awoke to great pyramids and a vast desert where a temperate field once stood, and the path itself broke into catacombs awaiting beneath them. Inside the catacombs, the Fifth of the King, Rogue and the worg pup remained behind while Rai and the party ventured forward. A mystic portal brought Markus and Seldeles from distant Clarion to our current dungeon, where we fell into a Snake Cult ritual exploring a set of locked chests. The party defeated these cultists but not before Strax was pulled into the open portal by a hooked chain and saved by Loam. Returning to a previous sector, Rogue met his end attempting to disarm a trap, ambushed by fungal ambusher. Unable to revive him, Rai carried on down the secret passage revealed by the trap into a cavern of mummies. Escaping their enemies, the party escaped into a lone study, where a lich was revived by Seldeles’ search of the desk. Within the closed sarcophagus, Anar Kay lain trapped until Rai swapped the grappled Lich for him. With the Lich’s entrapment and apparent destruction from exposure to focused sunlight, the pyramid began to crumble as the party escaped back into the desert. Aelmont After weeks of travel, the party had finally reached the capitol city. With Anar Kay’s blunt proposal to enter to kill the Baron, the party had to find another way into the city – through the sewers. Given the task of eliminating slimes, they entered to find not only slimes but more cultists to defeat. Evading falling explosives dropped by the towns guard, the party scattered to find Strax missing, replaced by the mysterious Corvo West. Looking to save everyone rather than ask questions, Rai led half the party out of the sewer until the explosions stopped. Eventually, they regrouped above ground and found an inn called A-Horse A-Course where they set up camp to gather information about the Baron’s doings. Exploring the districts, the party gained leads from Matron Black Veil and her courtesans at the brothel, as well as from Keep’s contact, a mysterious young woman willing to expose our involvement in the death of one of the Fifth of the King if they didn’t help her. Between a rock and a hard place again, Rai and the party went forth to infiltrate the Fishermen’s Guild, a group working for the Baron as strong-arm thugs. Anar and the brothel worked together to forge invitations to a party for these guild members in the name of the missing Fifth of the King, drawing their attentions away from the infiltrating party. Rai, as part of the raiders, fought his way into the Guild house after a botched initiation, placing one clerk to sleep while escaping with another as hostage. Unable to return to A-Horse A-Course as it was on fire, he evaded guards and met with Daelen to stay in a slum house for the night, planning to interrogate the girl in the morning. After failing to gain anything useful, as he was bad at this sort of thing, he left the girl to be found by the staff and left to rejoin the party in town somewhere. The reunion was interrupted by the announcement of Duke Mik-Mikale McDonovan. Challenging the standing Baron to his right to the throne, the town was attacked by Death Worms summoned by cultists, leading to destruction to much of the slum district. Fending off these summoned worms, Duke McDonovan gained access to the city and followed the party to the castle through the sewers, using a path tracked by Rai and Loam straight to the courtyards. With West running ahead to find the Royals, Rai and the party helped defend against intruders from another plane opened in the courtyard, brushing with death as he dropped unconscious. Upon reawakening, he learned that Merdon Srek was missing, the King dead and Duke McDonovan’s regime in place. The Princess in Another Castle Having saved his hometown of Haven from the Baron’s evil plan, Rai was content in his aims of the original party. Having lost Strax, Cale, and Rogue, the call to arms had come at a great cost to his personal friendships, but with Loam’s help, he would be able to return safely to his old ways with some form of comfort. It was only by the urging of the new ruler and the party themselves to join in the rescue of the Princess that Rai agreed to one last mission to return her safely to the castle. Setting off after Baron Srek and Clarion, the party traveled uneventfully for a few days until reaching the edge of a great forest. Resting for a day before adventuring through, Rai assisted Loam in tracking down an animal companion for his friend – a young bear cub. Using his Wild Empathy, he helped convince the mother to let Loam mentor its young and join on our path. Completing the ritual of bonding, they returned to the campsite to find a prison cart pulled alongside our cart, a tied up slaver, a party of naked women as well as Anar’s new gnome cohorts Tilli and Villi. With the girls turning out to be glamoured thugs, the party fought these intruders out of their midst. Those that escaped were found in a clearing inside the woods along with an intimidating Black Knight. The Knight warned the party of further involvement and walked off into the woods. Further into the woods, the party came upon a desolate village of East Haven, though not uninhabited. Anar’s insistence on talking to the refugees gained them knowledge of the Black Knight’s stranglehold over them, including killing of those who knew of his involvement. The scared villagers asked if the party could help them, and against Rai and Loam’s wishes the party intervened on the town’s behalf to investigate the nearby ruins. The Death of Rai The ruins led into untouched catacombs full of traps and confusion. Interparty tension and contingency spells led to a showdown in a mirrored room puzzle, as well as a splitting up of the party behind force walls. Once into further chambers, Markus found and subsequently activated a defense mechanism - Iron Golems and Stone Golems. With unfavorable close quarter combat and impending flanking of these golems, Rai used his powers to transform into a Dire Bear and attempt to make time for the party to get out of the corridors and escape. With everyone else into the previous hallways and the return of Anar’s fallen shield, Rai was struck down by a two handed slam from one Stone Golem, and never rose again.